UNSAYING, NOT KNOWING, AND POINTING AT THE MOON: Language and Non-dual Practice

Join us Feb 16 - 18 for an amazing program with philosopher John Dunne, PhD. For the non-dual Buddhist traditions, to use language is to be necessarily dualistic, yet language can also induce non-dual experience. How is this possible? John Dunne’s work focuses on Buddhist philosophy and contemplative practice.

A fiery horticulture Master, Alan Chadwick, and Harry Roberts, of indigenous American roots:

“Remember in your thinking” Harry once said to me, "that this is a Buddhist community. And we are trying to live like one. Buddhism is forever. It’s not a crash course for the next 5 weeks. We are looking at things from a perspective of five hundred years. Buddhism is not a religion. It is a way of life. If we make it for five hundred years, we will make it for five thousand. We are building for the far future.”

“When you plant a tree…remember you are planting an entire ecosystem.” – Harry

“The garden has its own rules, its own time, and its own laws," (Alan) he reminded us regularly. “We only believe today what can be absolutely proved. Only the visible. Yet everything that is absolutely true is invisible.”

You can contribute to the Resident Program:
People from all over the world come to Upaya to
practice, serve, and learn. Upaya completely supports their presence
as they stay with us from three months to a year. Please support
this program.

For detailed news about Roshi's current travels and teachings as well as her Upaya schedule for the rest of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, see "Roshi's News." And be sure to check out her "flickr" site to see photos of her recent trips. Also join Sensei Beate Genko Stolte for one of the Fall Practice Period retreats listed below.

May you find inspiration — here and in your life — to enrich your journey.

Thanksgiving at Upaya

Upaya welcomes all of our sangha for Thanksgiving potluck, November 24.

Please join us for both the 5:30 pm meditation and dinner that follows at 6:30 pm.

Upaya will provide the main course and a leafy green salad. If you are able, please bring a vegetable side dish or dessert.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Beverly Croydon at Upaya (505-986-8518, ext. 11 or frontdesk@upaya.org) with the number in your party and what dish or dessert you will bring.

See you then!

FEATURE ARTICLES

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Why INEB Is THE Buddhist Conference To Attend: Kooi F. Lim

Photo of Dzongsar Rinpoche and others at INEB 2011 by Roshi Joan Halifax

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Gaya is a contradiction. At one end, fine yellow dusts fill the air and choke the lungs, while piercing horns and shouts from a thousand bodies choke its narrow streets. You can see children who wear torn rags on the streets, who probably have no idea what school is like — ever. Then you see polio stricken kids crawling on muddy sidewalks extending their hands for alms, and you get hit by the effects of deep poverty and the consequences of what an unattended fever can do to a young child.

At the other end, there exist vast tracts of verdant green fields. These are hidden behind monasteries, temples and village slums which dot the periphery of the local highway leading from its airport to the focal point of Gaya’s existence, the Mahabodhi Temple, spot of the Buddha’s Enlightenment.

In this vortex of noise, pollution, poverty and calm, serene greenery, augmented with a historic Enlightenment, the International Network of Engaged Buddhists held its biannual conference here.

More renowned for its acronym, INEB brings together Buddhist based organizations and individuals from around the world to share stories, resources and to support each other’s work.

This year, the organizers — Jambudvipa Trust, Youth Buddhist Society of India (YBS), the Deer Park Institute and INEB designed the conference as a platform for examining the future of Buddhism to re-awaken and to re-vitalize Buddhist commitment towards helping all sentient beings. More significantly, this year’s INEB takes place to commemorate the 2,600 years since the Buddha gained Enlightenment right here, in Bodhgaya.

Unlike any other Buddhist conferences, people who attend INEB do not just [] sit through a series of talk shops. A significant difference between this and other Buddhist gatherings is the participation of “resource persons”. These are not just practicing Buddhists, but also dedicated professionals who are respected in their field of expertise.

The guy who gives detailed narratives of guided tours around the Mahabodhi temple was also a founder of a public listed pharmaceutical company, which produc[t]s are made based on traditional medical knowledge. His name is Richard Dixie.

Then there is the Japanese priest Rev. Hideshito Okoshi who established a mi[c]ro-credit “Future Bank”, developed buildings that could last for 100 years and is now dedicating himself to work for a nuclear free Japan.

In Thailand, Phra Sangkom Thanapanyo works with remote villages to address issues of water scarcity while helping to maintain local agricultural practices and to protect forest ecosystems. He calls his work “Application of sufficiency economy”.

At “The Bridge Fund”, Monica Garry from the United States manages a foundation which works exclusively with disadvantaged people living on the Tibetan Plateau in Western China, down to the most remote nomad. The fund supports developing local entrepreneurship (right livelihood), expanding rural healthcare, tackling waste management and strengthening communities, while grounded in respect for Tibetan culture and values.

Like any previous editions of INEB, social action is synonymous with engaging underserved, under privileged and sometimes persecuted groups. This year, the delegates heard stories of samsara at work on whole communities: the Chakmas (India), the Dalits (untouchables of India) and the Chittagong Hills Tribe (Bangladesh). For some of these communities, like the Dalits, embracing Buddhism is a way out to escape the clutches of discrimination.

And so we get to see real people doing courageous work at ground level to help these disadvantaged communities, people like Mangesh Dahiwale from the Jambudvipa Trust and Santoshita Chakma from the Chittagong Jumma Refugees Welfare Association.

All through the presentations, we hear how these individuals and organizations fortify themselves with non-violent communication strategies, compassion and street smart wisdom as they face the realities of engaging with people who are denied basic human rights just because some parts of society deemed them as below “cows”.

We see at first hand how the Buddha-Dharma operates in diverse conditions of human and environmental suffering — from working with rejected population, empowering marginalized groups, gender identity, awakening the youth, climate change and green marketing. All these are laid out in work groups, led by one or more resource persons.

These work group structures facilitate connections that could be made, so that people with a variety of knowhow, experience and skill can get together and brainstorm on issues. Even innocuous activities such as discussions on how to use a website effectively, film making, photography and art have a role to play in that creative process.

Like Gaya’s vortex of dichotomies — of dust with verdant fields, noise with serene gardens, poverty with its majestic monasteries, INEB’s key success lies in its ability to blend tools with experience, strategies with street smart realities, faith with focus and compassion with wisdom.

Yet, like the focal point of the Buddha’s Enlightenment in the Mahabodhi temple, participants from such diverse backgrounds would not have been so evidently committed if not for the drive and inspiration of INEB’s founder, Ajarn Sulak Sivarasa. In his opening address, he said:

“We need to be culturally sensitive, politically concerned and socially committed to have the courage to tackle questions of the common good and to point out abusive situations. To be able to see clearly, to be truly aware of the state of the world, we must begin by deprogramming ourselves and be free of prejudice toward those we criticize. By working with others of goodwill, we can identify and confront abuses of power. It is critical for people of all faiths and ideologies, as well as atheists and agnostics, to listen to each other as we promote justice and have balance through non-violent means. Equality must be upheld in all situations, in order to have empathy for, as well as to stay in touch with the poor and the oppressed.”

This was aptly summarized and supported with [] simple advice from the Bhutanese monk Dzongsar Kyentse Jamyang Rinpoche (a strong advocate of non-sectarian Buddhism), when he observed,

“When you drink tea, there is the tea and there is the cup. We can’t say whether the tea or the cup is more important. Without the cup, you cannot hold hot tea in your hands. Yet, we should not be attached to the cup, and say ‘only this cup can hold the tea’. “

Without a doubt, INEB have successfully brought together groups of diverse Buddhists from all corners of the world, each personally and socially committed to reach out and to help the underserved and under privileged. More admirably, their work [is] accomplished using Dharma inspired strategies such as mindfulness, compassion motivated actions and non-violence.

They have shown the way that Buddhists are not just self-centred practitioners, motivated only by personal salvation. This INEB gathering has demonstrated anything but that.

Utilitarian Buddhist values need not be undermined by dogmas and cultural strait-jackets, and yet it need not succumb to rootless modernism and new age secularism. With a balanced understanding of the new and the ancient, of east and west, the Buddha’s Teachings [are] timeless and equally effective, then and now.

All that is asked of us is to have the capacity to see clearly without prejudice, to have the ability to listen to one another and to act without selfish motives and personal agendas.

And when we can do this, no amount of samsaric dust, pollution or mental poverty can stop us from reaching out and fulfilling the dreams of our common humanity, that is to end suffering for ourselves as well as for others.__________

The International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) was established in 1989. It held its biannual conference from October 26-29, 2011 at Wat Pa Bodhgaya, Gaya, India. The next INEB conference will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2013. For more information, please visit: http://www.inebnetwork.org/.

At first we may not realize it, but the soil and sands of this Earth are very important. When seen from a Buddhist perspective, it becomes clear that humans and sand are, in all actuality, very similar; whereas each grain may look the same from afar, at the most basic and microscopic level there are literally billions of different stories being told.

One such story is that of Tibetan artist Tenzing Ringdol, the child of a refugee family. Trained in both Western and Tibetan art styles and spurred by his deceased father’s deep longing to catch one more glimpse of their homeland, Ringdol brought a whopping 20,000kg (a little more than 44,000 lbs.) of Tibetan soil across treacherous natural and superficial barriers to the heart of “Little Tibet” in Dharamsala, India.

The art installation, “Our Land, Our People”, offered many exiled Tibetans the chance to literally walk on Tibetan soil—for many, it would be the first time. “Our Land, Our People” was dismantled on Friday, with exiled Tibetans coming to help take it apart and take a bit of soil home with them.

Sallie McFague talks to the Dalai Lama: Douglas Todd

Photo by Betty Jones

The Dalai Lama had a riveting discussion in October with Vancouver-based eco-theologian Sallie McFague, 78, on the subject of global warming. Sitting side by side, their talk took place at the Dalai Lama’s home-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It can be seen on video here.

After her talk with the Dalai Lama in mid-October, McFague wrote an email to other participants in the extensive Dharamsala conference on ecology, ethics and interdependence. They included well-known Buddhist authors Matthieu Ricard, Joan Halifax and brain science writer Daniel Goleman, author of the bestselling Emotional Intelligence series. McFague was accompanied to India by Vancouver School of Theology teacher Janet Gear, a minister in the United Church of Canada.

Reflecting on what middle-class North Americans should do to combat climate change and other injustices, Sallie McFague says: “Twenty per cent of us have considerable power, influence, and money and we should use it not to serve soup to the needy but to change legislation at public levels as well as practice simplicity in our personal lives.”

I was not prepared for the trip–going to India for the first time and especially the conference itself–to be so meaningful. As many of you know, I have some disability issues and at 78 years old, thought the travel and trials of such a trip beyond me. But with the generous help of the Mind and Life Institute, letting me fly business class with a companion, the travel was remarkably low stress. I thank the Institute also for the rich experience that it provided to my companion and colleague, Janet Gear, who attended all the sessions with great appreciation.

Secondly, a word of gratitude to all the folks who worked to put the conference together and managed it. The accommodations, food, and gracious hospitality was beyond expectations, from Dave’s and Diego’s masterful planning to the people at Chonor House who took care of us. I also want to express my appreciation for the other members of the team who presented to the Dalai Lama. The meeting in Boulder brought us together from disparate backgrounds and allowed us to start forming as a unit so that when we reached Dharmasala I believe we were able to perform as a coherent group with a strong message. It is the kind of collegial work that shows the academy at its best (though perhaps not at its usual behavior!). I learned much from these colleagues and am delighted to have had the opportunity to work with them.

Thirdly, meeting the Dalai Lama, and especially being in his presence for hours at a time, was the rarest of privileges. I had read some of his writings and had even been present at another conference many years ago when he spoke, but nothing prepared me for the experience of being in his presence and listening to him sharing his perspective and insights during that week of our conference. His comments greatly enriched my own work. I have been studying the lives of the saints for fifty years–that was the subject of the first course I taught to divinity students in the late l960′s and is also the topic of a small seminar of advanced students that I am teaching now at the Vancouver School of Theology.

Moreover, I am presently working on a book on kenosis and climate change. And it is an insight for this book that I wish to underline as a major gift of the conference proceedings for me. The book is about moving from belief to action on the most critical issue facing this generation–global warming and its expected dire consequences. I have outlined a four-point process on how to move from belief in a major public issue to action to remedy it, with insights gained from many years of studying saints such as the 18th century Quaker, John Woolman, the 20th century French philosopher Simone Weil, and the American soup kitchen and political activist Dorothy Day.

The first and very important step in this process is for middle-class people to move out of their comfort zone through experiences of voluntary poverty that will wake them up from their complicity with the culture of market capitalism which is creating global warming. Until the conference, I did not see the most important effect that voluntary poverty can have for the 20% of the population that use 80% of the world’s energy. I named it “wild space,” a form of disorientation to jolt us out of our slumber regarding our responsibility for global warming, but could not specify exactly what we middle-class folks should be doing with our new insights.

Should we become like St. Francis of Assisi or Dorothy Day, giving away all our wealth and taking up residence with the poorest of the poor? The major insight I gained from the conference is that this is NOT primarily what we should be doing. Of course a critical step should be a significant reduction of energy at the personal level toward the practice of simplicity in our daily lives. This must involve a radical reduction in our energy use at all levels, but our basic calling as middle-class people is not to imitate St. Francis or Dorothy Day. Rather, those of us with money, influence, and various forms of expertise should harness our specific and considerable gifts to help change minds and legislation to reverse and control global warming. In other words, the saints — people such as I have studied for years and the Dalai Lama himself — show us a new paradigm, a new way of living in the world that is based on simplicity, restraint, sharing, and compassion. Our goal, however, is not to follow exactly what they did, but to interpret “voluntary poverty” for our own time and our own assets and talents. Twenty per cent of us have considerable power, influence, and money and we should use it not to serve soup to the needy but to change legislation at public levels as well as practice simplicity in our personal lives.

We middle-class (and wealthier) folks must be willing to “stand in the shoes” of the poor in order to develop the deep degree of empathy with the suffering of others (both oppressed human beings and other life-forms), so that our circle of concern becomes radically inclusive. The aim is to develop a “universal self,” an understanding of who we are in the scheme of things, that includes every living being–even such lowly ones as caterpillars! This concern includes the health of the biological systems such as climate that help all creatures to flourish. We need to be so deeply empathetic with all these others that we are willing to sacrifice what is peculiarly our own, assets such as money, power, influence, and expertise.

In summary, voluntary poverty for folks like myself is the initial wild space that will cause us to use ALL our considerable assets, at personal, professional, and public levels to seriously reduce energy use through the sacrifice of ourselves (and all we have, control, and can influence) to bring about a new way of being in the world, a way that moves away from the narrow, individualistic understanding of the self to a wide open inclusive view of who we are, a view that has no limits.

The conference has given me new insights and energy to continue my own small contribution to this goal through writing and teaching. Sharing thoughts with the other conference participants and especially with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other spokespersons for Buddhism, has given me this gift and I am deeply grateful.

An Open Letter From Buddhist And Yoga Teachers In Support Of The Occupy Movement: Ethan Nichtern, Michael Stone

As teachers and leaders of communities that promote the development of compassion and mindfulness, we are writing to express our solidarity with the Occupy movement now active in more than 1,900 cities worldwide.

We are particularly inspired by the nonviolent tactics of this movement, its methods of self-governance and its emergent communities founded in open communication (general assemblies, the human microphone, the inclusion of diverse voices, etc). These encampments are fertile ground for seeing our inherent wisdom and our capacity for awakening.

We encourage all teachers, leaders, sanghas and communities that pursue awakening to join with these inspiring activists, if they have not already done so, in working to end the extreme inequalities of wealth and power that cause so much suffering and devastation for human society and for the ecosystems of Earth.

This movement has given voice to a near-universal frustration with the economic and political disenfranchisement of so many. It offers a needed counterbalance to a system that saps the life energy of the overwhelming majority — the so-called 99 percent — generating vast profits for a tiny handful, without maximizing the true potential for widespread wealth creation in our society. While our practice challenges us to cultivate compassion for 100 percent of human beings without villifying an "enemy," our practice also calls on us to confront a system that causes such clear harm and imbalance.

We share in the thoughtful calls to address massive unemployment, climate change, the erosion of social safety nets, decaying infrastructures, social and education programs, and workers' wages, rights and benefits.

Moreover, the current legal structure of large corporations compels individuals to act with shortsighted greed, acts for which they are not held personally accountable. If we aren't encouraged to act with awareness of our connection to the 7 billion humans who share our global community, the social fabric of our society is torn apart by legalized acts of selfishness and fear. These acts are performed in human society, by nonhuman entities, oddly granted the legal and political status of people, which have no ability to adequately perceive or react to the negative repercussions of their choices. The whole planet pays the price.

Most importantly, we believe that individual awakening and collective transformation are inseparable. For members of spiritual communities, mindfulness of the situation before us demands that we engage fully in the culture and society we inhabit. We do not view our own path as merely an individualistic pursuit of sanity and health, and we believe it would be irresponsible of us to teach students of mind/body disciplines that they can develop their practice in isolation from the society in which they live. We are inspired by the creative and intellectual work of the Occupy movement as an essential voice in facilitating a more compassionate and ecologically grounded basis for practice.

The Occupy movement has re-ignited our belief that it's truly possible to build a culture of non-harm, honesty and respect for all creatures. We recognize our human failings and know that we'll fail 10,000 times in our efforts to awaken. We now vow to bring our practices and methods of teaching more into alignment with our deepest values.

The structural greed, anger and delusion that characterize our current system are incompatible with our obligations to future generations and our most cherished values of interdependence, creativity and compassion. We call on teachers and practitioners from all traditions of mind/body awakening to join in actively transforming these structures.

Author's note: If you are a Buddhist or Yoga teacher or community leader anywhere in the world and would like to add your name to the growing list of supporters of this letter, please visit OccupySamsara.org.

Interview: Roshi Joan Halifax: Maia Duerr

Photo of Maia Duerr and Roshi Joan at Mt. Kailash, Tibet, 1999

This is the third in our series of interviews with inspiring and interesting socially engaged Buddhists of our time. The first one back in September was with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, and last month we interviewed Arun, author of the blog Angry Asian Buddhist.

This month you’re in for a real treat — the guest this time is author, anthropologist, and Zen teacher Roshi Joan Halifax. I love her out-of-the-box responses in this interview. Roshi is a dear friend and colleague of mine; I’ve known her since 1993 when I first took a course from her at California Institute of Integral Studies. She’s the founder of Upaya Zen Center, and does more good in the world than I can even begin to name here.

Roshi did this interview a couple of months ago before setting off on a service pilgrimage to Western Nepal to provide medical care to nomads there. She leads a remarkable life, indeed. I hope you enjoy getting to know her a bit through this interview. ____________

JC: Where do you call home?

Roshi Joan: Wherever I am. And on the local level, New Mexico, and getting more to the particular mountain range, the valley: the Sangre de Cristos, Upaya and Prajna Mountain Forest Refuge.

ZEN BRAIN: Emotions, Equanimity, and the Embodied Mind

In this important program, prominent scientists and scholars will explore emotions, equanimity, and the embodied mind from the perspectives of Buddhist theory and practice, neuroscience and neuroendocrinology, psychology, and philosophy of mind. For more information about this retreat and to register, please visit: ZEN BRAIN 2012.

In recent years, philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience have contributed new observations and insights into the brain and bodily processes involved in those states we call emotions and their relationships to our perceptions and actions. These observations support the conclusion that bodily changes and the experience of the body are inextricable aspects of emotions, and of most other aspects of mind. These disciplines have also provided frameworks for understanding how emotions are initiated and regulated in the mind/brain/body that are resonant with Buddhist perspectives and practices.

Well known scientists and scholars will explore emotions, equanimity, and the embodied mind from the perspectives of Buddhist theory and practice, neuroscience/neuroendocrinology, psychology, and philosophy of mind. Special consideration will be given to recent studies of emotion response and regulation in meditation practitioners. Talks, discussions, and explorations with participants are embedded within zazen practice throughout each day.

16 CEUs for counselors, therapists and social workers are available for this retreat through the New Mexico Counseling and Therapy Practice Board.

Please note that this is the only time Upaya will be offering the Zen Brain program in 2012. Registration limited.

UPAYA'S PROGRAMS

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Ways to be at Upaya: Path of Service, Guest Practitioner, Volunteer

There are many ways to deepen your practice and spend time at Upaya.

One way is the Path of Serviceprogram. Upaya is accepting applications for our Path of Service resident program, inviting practitioners to live and serve here from three months to a year or more. For more information and to apply click here or contact: pos@upaya.org

Please visit this web page on our site to learn more about other options for staying at Upaya, including personal retreats, work exchange, and more.